Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have been in a full partnership for 76 years. They are both from Plains, Georgia, and Rosalynn was delivered as a baby by Lillian Carter, Jimmy Carter's mother. That was the first time they met, as children. But later, Jimmy and Rosalynn were paired up by one of Jimmy’s sisters. They started officially dating when Jimmy returned home from the Naval Academy during World War II. Married since 1946 — the Carters have been married longer than any other first couple. Jimmy has said, “The best thing I ever had happen in my life is when she said she would marry me and did.” In Plains, they worked together to run the family peanut business. Author Jonathan Alter said it was clear early on that Rosalynn was good at business. “And she turned out to be in some ways better at business than her husband in the same way that she had more of a political cunning than he did,” Alter said. Rosalynn would carry these aspects of herself in support of her husband as he traveled from Georgia Governor to President of the United States. Evidence of how much Jimmy trusted Rosalynn started immediately at the White House, where she sat in on Cabinet meetings, a rare move for a first lady. Rosalynn did this so that she would be informed enough to give her husband good advice. “She had she was a closer adviser to her husband than any other first lady, with the possible exception of Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton,” Alter said. Unlike Jimmy, Rosalynn had very few critics. And when it came time for reelection in 1980, Jimmy was busy handling the Iran hostage situation and therefore Rosalynn was sent to campaign in his place. They eventually lost reelection to the Reagan administration, which sorely depressed the Carters. “They both had a very hard time after he lost. Not just because it's hard losing, but they were young. They were in their fifties. They were sort of humiliated by the voters. Rosalynn talked about a comeback, you know, which was crazy,” Alter said. But Associated Press reporter Bill Barrow notes that the partnership only continued beyond the White House. Where, upon creation of the Carter Center, the Carters continued their humanitarian work. “They expanded the public health programs, diplomacy outreach, and conflict resolutions. And yes, would this have ever come about were he not the former president himself? It would not have. He had to have the presidency to have the Carter Center, but he wouldn't have had it either without Rosalynn and her influence,” Barrow said.